Hadronic matter distribution of particles and nuclei

Similarities in the high-energy behaviour, elastic and inelastic collisions, of hadrons and nuclei are interpreted as due to the existence of a universal interacting hadronic matter distribution function. Differences arise from the different geometrical dimensions which are themselves determined by the quark content. We formulate the idea in an eikonal model, the only parameters being geometrical factors, the transverse radius and the opacity parameter. The model describes forward elastic scattering (hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, nucleus-nucleus interactions) and particle production at high energies. We discuss the relation of our model to the Glauber model as well as to the quark model and to the geometrical ideas in QCD. (author)